Alumni Update: Where are they now?

Name: Sandy Reynolds

Degree(s) Received: Ph.D.

Job title: Associate Professor (tenured) and Assistant Director for Academic Affairs

Company: School of Aging Studies, University of South Florida

Location (city and state): Tampa, FL

Please briefly describe your position and your company:

I began at USF in the Fall of 1996 as an Assistant Professor in Gerontology;  I received tenure in the Spring of 2003, at which time I became Associate Professor.  I did a year’s sabbatical with Dr. Eileen Crimmins and when I returned home was asked to take on administrative responsibilities (class scheduling, curriculum development, etc.) as the Assistant Director for Academic Affairs of the newly created School of Aging Studies.

Why did you choose to study gerontology at the USC Davis School?

I was a banker in New England, and I was looking to get out of banking.  I became interested in the issue of the baby boom and what would happen when they retired, and I decided to study aging.  Ken Dychtwald, of the Age Wave, suggested I contact USC, as it was the premier school of Gerontology in the country;  I talked to Jon Torp, who then referred me on to AGHE, as I was at that point not looking to shatter my life and go fulltime to  graduate school.  Through AGHE I discovered aging-related programs at Smith College, Mt. Holyoke, UMass Boston, UConn’s School of Social Work, and so on.  Everywhere I looked, I ran into obstacles, until finally I decided that I’d better seriously think about USC.  As it happened, the day I made that decision was the day before the last day to register for the GRE for the following year’s fall admissions – so I guess someone was looking out for me.

How did you learn about your current position?  Was it through an internship, a previous job, or a connection through USC?

At the time I was finishing my PhD, I had an offer to do a 2-year fellowship at the National Center for Health Statistics; meanwhile, there was this job posted on the job board at USC and everyone kept telling me it was written for me.  So, I applied, and the rest was sort of history.

Please briefly describe how the USC Davis School’s curriculum helped prepare you for your current position.

Oh, Lord, where do I start?  When I started what was then a Master’s program in the fall of 1991, I had never taken so much as a seminar on aging, much less a course.  ALL of the curriculum helped me prepare for my current position.  But if forced to choose one or two experiences over any of the others, I have to say that taking the old version of the 4-day qualifying exams really did it for me.  Everyone always crabs about having to do them, and I did too.  But the fact is, by the time you get through doing them, you know more than you’ll probably ever know again.  You are at the top of your game, and I can tell you that when it came to teaching classes, whether to undergrads or grads, I remember things coming out of my mouth and thinking, “where did THAT come from?” – and it was quals!

The other major experience that prepared me for my job was all of the wonderful mentoring and networking I got from the USC faculty.  Phoebe Liebig and Jon Pynoos started me off with a lot of enthusiasm and interesting research experience and I am forever grateful to them.  However, Kate Wilber and Eileen Crimmins were my main mentors and I learned so much from them, I can scarcely describe it.  I find myself constantly saying things to my PhD students that Kate and Eileen used to say to me.  I know Kate and Eileen would demur, but I feel I owe virtually everything to them.

What advice would you offer to a prospective student interested in studying gerontology at USC?

That’s easy – if you want a top-notch education with a first-rate faculty, go to USC.  If you don’t want to go to LA, then come to USF – you’ll also get a top-notch education with a first-rate faculty, it’s just a different program with people doing different research!

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"Kate Wilber and Eileen Crimmins were my main mentors and I learned so much from them, I can scarcely describe it. I find myself constantly saying things to my PhD students that Kate and Eileen used to say to me. I know Kate and Eileen would demur, but I feel I owe virtually everything to them." 

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